--- title: How This Light Could Help Your Baby (and You) Sleep Better description: Can a simple light bulb make all the difference? canonical: https://time.com/4061735/how-this-light-could-help-your-baby-and-you-sleep-better/ author: Diane Tsai article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-13T21:41:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:32:18.721Z article:section: Health og:title: How This Light Could Help Your Baby (and You) Sleep Better og:description: Can a simple light bulb make all the difference? og:url: https://time.com/4061735/how-this-light-could-help-your-baby-and-you-sleep-better/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0f7a010fcc0f0233/698866ea0a4a2209979c666a/the-sleepy-baby-light-bulb.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1920 og:image:height: 1080 og:image:alt: The Sleepy Baby Light Bulb og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How This Light Could Help Your Baby (and You) Sleep Better twitter:description: Can a simple light bulb make all the difference? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0f7a010fcc0f0233/698866ea0a4a2209979c666a/the-sleepy-baby-light-bulb.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How This Light Could Help Your Baby (and You) Sleep Better > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=c5683328-e6f0-4e8f-ad1b-0143f1f1d377&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: High-Tech Health: The Sleepy Baby Lightbulb [Watch (HLS stream): High-Tech Health: The Sleepy Baby Lightbulb](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/IYFSVBDZ.m3u8) (2:57)  _Published 2015-10-13. How this light could help your baby (and you) sleep better_ by [Diane Tsai](https://time.com/author/diane-tsai/) and [Arpita Aneja](https://time.com/author/arpita-aneja/) Oct 13, 2015 9:41 PM UTC by [Diane Tsai](https://time.com/author/diane-tsai/) and [Arpita Aneja](https://time.com/author/arpita-aneja/) Oct 13, 2015 9:41 PM UTC Before she became a mom, Leemor Rhodes had no particular interest in the nuances of bedroom lighting. But once she got pregnant, it was a different story. “The internet becomes your best friend and your worst enemy,” Rhodes said. “I found some very interesting research with lighting.” After the birth of her son Adi in June, Rhodes first tried a generic red lightbulb based on a friend’s recommendation, which she says caused her to be disoriented and “camouflaged the poop.” She then switched to an app-controlled LED smart bulb, but she found that product difficult to adjust at times. Finally, a publicist friend who works with [Lighting Science Corporation](http://www.lsgc.com/) gave her one of the company’s many lighting products: the Sleep Baby LED light bulb. As a sleep-deprived new mother, she was willing to try anything, Rhodes said. Though skeptical at first about the nondescript yellow light bulb, she soon saw results when she turned it on for nighttime feedings and diaper changes. “It soothes him, it creates a very calm environment — it’s very easy to put the baby back down,” she said. Sleepy Baby is just one of many light bulbs available that are marketed toward helping babies (and their parents) sleep better at night. Thanks to advances in digitizing light, companies like Lighting Science Corporation are able to create light bulbs that do not emit the blue wavelengths of the light spectrum which cause our brains to be more alert. For Lighting Science founder Fred Maxik, implementing bulbs like the Sleepy Baby in our homes to improve sleep quality is just the beginning of understanding the intersection of light and biology. “At the end of the day, we’re trying to invent a new future for ourselves,” said Maxik. “And we can utilize light in a way we’ve never expected.” ### See the Funniest and Weirdest Baby Photos  Shot for TIME, 2015 Evan Kafka for TIME  Shot for TIME, 2015 Photo-illustration by Evan Kafka for TIME  Shot for TIME, 2015 Photo-illustration by Evan Kafka for TIME  Shot for TIME, 2015 Photo-illustration by Evan Kafka for TIME  Personal work, 2009 Evan Kafka—Getty Images  Shot for Huggies, 2011 Evan Kafka  Personal work, 2009 Evan Kafka  Personal work, 2009 Evan Kafka—Getty Images  Personal work, 2009 Photo-illustration by Evan Kafka—Getty Images  Personal work, 2011 Evan Kafka—Getty Images  Personal work, 2009 Evan Kafka—Getty Images  Personal work, 2009 Evan Kafka—Getty Images  ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] [ UNKNOWN ] 13 weeks ago I gave birth, and my sleep schedule was affected tremendously. I wasn't sleeping pretty much at all. I was non- functional. I could barely even take care of my baby, almost. Once I started using sleepy baby my son Adee started sleeping much better instantaneously. It happened pretty much over night. [ MUSIC ] There isn't really anything wrong with electric light. It's how we utilize it. If we turn on the wrong light bulb before we got to bed, well that light bulb can stop us from sleeping. I mean, decrease our bodies normal capability to sleep properly at night. To secrete the right hormones at night, like melatonin. And this has as adverse physical effect on us. Fred Maxik, founder and Chief Technology Officer of Lighting Science Corporation. So, Lighting Science, as a company, began about 10 years ago now. Looking at the intersection of light and biology. And we did this with NASA, looking at how astronauts deal with sleep in space. and we built up a number of samples that they tested over a number of years, and have found that we can affect how people sleep at night, how people are awake and alert during the day. [ MUSIC ] Who doesn't want to go into their child's room when they hear them mumble, or cry, or make some noise? And, first thing you do is you walk in, and you turn the lights on to see what's happening, and that's exactly the wrong thing to do And that's what would draw us to Sleeping Baby and other products.. We've looked at the spectrum of light that produces white we consider to be white light. Warm white light. We have violets, we have blues, we have greens, we have ambers, we have reds. [ MUSIC ] I was using a red light bulb and it just wasn't working for me. Sleepy Baby is bright as sunlight but the baby, it soothes him. It creates a very calm environment. Very easy to put the baby back down. He sort of glided back to sleep. It was almost as if he was sleep walking after Feeding him and changing him. If you can shut all lights off at night, that's wonderful. But if you can't do that, then this is the next best thing. So at the end of the day, we're trying to invent a new future for ourselves, and we can utilize lighting in a way we've just never expected before to do that. 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